Chapter 7 Awakening
Morgana stirred in her sleep, she had been unconscious for far too long and remembered barely anything that occurred. She thought back to the last thing she remembered fully, when Merlin had left her for dead after stabbing her in the stomach. She remembered that part perfectly…
She had just tortured the information of Arthur's location from Gwaine, she left as soon as he revealed everything leaving him and his friend to die. She rode through the night and was fortunate to run into the two people she despised the most in life: Arthur and Merlin. Merlin had just let Arthur lean up against a rock as they looked on to the Lake of Avalon. So that's where they were heading, Morgana thought. With a quick flash of her eyes she managed to spook the two horses. On seeing there panic Merlin shot up yelling, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, WHOA!" Not being able to contain herself Morgana approached Merlin from behind.
"Hello Emrys," she said coolly. As Merlin turned around she sent him flying onto his back several yards away. She then turned to the mortally wounded Arthur and approached him slowly.
"What a joy it is to see you Arthur," Morgana teased as she reached Arthur. She looked down at the king and sneered at him. "Look at you, not so tall and mighty now," she taunted. She knelt down beside Arthur as he stared at her ruefully. "You may have won the battle but you lost the war. You're going to die by Mordred's hand." She said with an evil smile. Arthur continued to stare at Morgana without speaking, her smile vanished as she said with false concern, "Don't worry dear brother I won't let you die alone." Her voice suddenly turned much cooler and sinister, "I will stay and watch over you, till the wolves gorge on your carcass and bathe in your blood." She was too busy gloating that she hadn't heard a sword being unsheathed from behind her.
"No," Merlin said from behind, Morgana turned around as he spoke and stared at him. "The time for all this blood shed is over." He finished as the two powerful beings stared each other down. Merlin's expression then softened as he spoke. "I blame myself for what you've become," he said almost apologetically. His voice returned to a cool nature as he said, "But, this has to end."
"I am a High Priestess," Morgana taunted, "no mortal blade can kill me." As she finished speaking Merlin had plunged his blade into her stomach and she released a whimper of shock from the pain. As she fell deeper onto the blade she looked up at Merlin who had a mixed look of sorrow and regret on his face.
"This is no mortal blade," he explained looking deeply into Morgana's eyes. "Like yours it was forged in a Dragon's breath." As he finished his explanation he forced the sword deeper into Morgana. She put her hand on his shoulder for support as he slowly brought her to the ground, he did not force her off of him. She whimpered as he brought her slowly to the ground and removed the blade gently from her stomach. He then took her hand, holding it for a second longer than needed, and rested it atop of her chest. She whimpered, trying to say something, anything to the man she had once called a friend, but no words left her lips.
"Good bye Morgana," he said regretfully. Morgana whimpered a few more times before she was engulfed by the darkness.
After that she could remember very little left. She remembered a witch approach her body hours after she had been stabbed, Morgana had been on the very verge of death. The witch had picked her up and carried her, bringing her to a horse that was waiting for them. As Morgana was strapped to the horse she was carried to a cave, a cave she recognized as a shrine to the Old Religion. Once the witch had restrained Morgana to the altar she began chanting dark magic, magic Morgause had warned her against less it corrupt Morgana's being. When she finished the spell Morgana wailed in the pain caused to her by the altar as it forced the magic from her body to fuel her spell from then on Morgana remembered nothing but darkness, feeling only the pain and poison being inflicted onto her to keep her somewhat conscious.
Days later she felt the chains drop from her body, but then reapplied to a more familiar material. She felt her body being raced away from her confinement as the altar was destroyed by a powerful magic. For the next week Morgana felt magic being poured into her healing the cuts, bruises and marks inflicted to her during her confinement. However she could feel that the powerful poison inflicted on her was still active as her health began to deteriorate. She managed to hear part of the conversation her care taker was having with someone, and she was surprised to hear that it was Aithusa.
"I know your upset Aithusa, but I really think we should leave her-" Before he could finish Aithusa roared angrily at his comment.
"Aithusa come on!" Aithusa growls from the depth of her throat.
"There isn't anything else we can do!"
Aithusa lets out another growl more assertive this time.
They continued to argue for a few more minutes until Morgana managed to moan out Aithusa's name. Feeling the young Dragon against her she weakly moved her hand onto her snout. For the next several days she lied there with Aithusa, the poison progressively getting worse and spreading more quickly throughout her body. Then suddenly the person with Aithusa had returned from leaving, he began to chant heavily and Morgana could feel the poison being drawn out of her body. Then suddenly, as if she had taken in a breath of air for the first time, Morgana inhaled as the last bit of poison was forced from her body. It felt like a life time since she had felt remotely healthy and she hoped that she wasn't being prepped for more torture by healing her. Morgana awoke the next day, her eyes glared by the sun unused to its brightness. She looked to her side and smiled deeply when she saw Aithusa besides her resting.
"Aithusa?" Morgana called, at hearing her friend speak Aithusa looked up and released a roar of joy as she nuzzled her friend. Morgana replied by rubbing Aithusa's head and hugging her neck deeply.
"I knew that you'd come back to save me," Morgana said gratefully still clinging to the Dragon's neck. Aithusa looked up at Morgana and shook her head, then with her tail she gestured to a figure across from them. Morgana looked up and froze at who she saw in front of her; her pent up rage and anger coursing through her veins. Merlin, she thought coldly as she stared at his form. He was snoring: loud, liked he didn't have a care in the world. She was going to change that very quickly for him. Standing up, she stumbled briefly but quickly gaining her balance, she aimed her hand at Merlin as she said, "Hleap on bæc!" Merlin wasn't sent flying at the utterance of her spell, he merely snored louder and muttered, "Sure I'll have more chicken Gaius," Enraged by his easy going nature Morgana tried again to no avail to use magic to harm Merlin. She was getting frustrated when she noticed the poppet hanging over the spot she had been laid on. Realizing what he had done Morgana cursed Merlin's ingenious thinking.
He prepared for the chance that I may awake before him, very clever Emrys, Morgana thought to herself. She looked around the small camp until she noticed Merlin's pack at his feet, sticking out from the top of them were two magic staffs. Morgana smiled evilly as she reached to grab one of the staffs sticking out of Merlin's pack. The minute her hand made contact an excruciating shock went through her body sending her stumbling back towards Aithusa. She looked down at her hand, there were no wounds on her hand but the shock going through her body had made the desired effect clear. She then turned to Aithusa and gestured for her to get up.
"Come on Aithusa, let's get out of here." As Morgana moved to leave Aithusa gave a protesting growl as she remained in her lying position. Morgana gave her a surprised look as she moved over to Aithusa.
"Come on, we need to leave before he wakes up."
Aithusa shook her head whimpering slightly as she laid her head on the ground. Morgana turned her gaze back towards Merlin. Her options were limited: she couldn't use her magic, couldn't use Merlin's weapons, she had no weapons of her own and Aithusa wouldn't leave with her. She did the only thing that made any sense at the moment, she walked over towards Merlin and kicked him in the stomach: hard. When Merlin awoke he moaned loudly as he rolled onto his back clutching the spot on his stomach that Morgana had kicked him, after a fit of dry heaving he finally opened his eyes and froze when he saw Morgana looking down at him.
"Morgana," he started warily but Morgana didn't give him a chance to speak.
"You're going to tell me what's going on or I swear I will torture you within an inch of your life," Morgana demanded. To her utter disbelief Merlin was actually struggling to keep from laughing. Him. Laughing. At HER! In a fit of anger she stomped on Merlin's stomach causing him to sit up in recoil and pain. "That's a great way to thank the person who saved your life!" Merlin sputtered trying to overcome the pain. Morgana stared down at him in disbelief.
"You didn't save me, Aithusa did." Morgana stated pointing to the Dragon behind her. Aithusa had by this point walked over to Morgana's side where she shook her head and gestured to Merlin with her tail. Morgana was shocked, what happened next really surprised her. Aithusa went over to Merlin's side and helped pick himself up from the ground. When he reached his feet he patted Aithusa thankfully and muttered something to her in a language Morgana didn't recognize.
"What did you just do to Aithusa?" Morgana demanded.
"I thanked her for helping me, something you should try every now and then." Merlin shot back.
"Why would Aithusa help you?" Morgana demanded yet again. Merlin glanced over at Aithusa who made a sound while nodding towards Merlin. He turned back to Morgana and said matter of factly, "I'm the one who hatched Aithusa," Morgana froze in surprise at his statement.
"That's impossible, the only ones that could hatch a Dragon egg were the-"
"The Dragon Lords?" Merlin finished for her. He spread his arms out for added effect as he said, "You're looking at the last one." Morgana didn't know how to respond to that but it suddenly made sense. The Dragon that had killed Agravaine and his men, Aithusa failing in killing Arthur and him all those times; the battle between the Saxons and Camelot when she just flew off. She didn't believe him, that would mean that Aithusa was technically his Dragon.
"I don't believe you," She said, not looking at Merlin but at Aithusa. Aithusa was nodding her head as Merlin stuck out his hand and said, "Memra Serptum!" A flash of blue energy enveloped Morgana as she found her location changed to an open field. She was alone for a few minutes when she saw Merlin come running through the forest, a big goofy grin on his face. Morgana turned to face Merlin as he knelt down and yelled, "What the hell did you do Merlin? Merlin? ANSWER ME DAMN IT!" Merlin had seemingly been ignoring her, when she went to kick him her foot went right through him, literally. Morgana was about to yell again when she saw Merlin take out a tear shaped stone the size of his head out of his pack and put it on a stump. As he stood up he looked to the sky when he heard the beating of wings. Morgana also looked up and was shocked to see a giant Dragon flying towards them, it landed on the ground with a smile as it stared longingly at the stone. The Dragon and Merlin stared at each other in silence for a few moments until Merlin finally broke the silence.
"Is it still alive? Merlin asked worriedly.
"It can live for more than a thousand years," the Dragon said in awe. As it spoke Morgana couldn't help but notice she'd heard the voice before. She just couldn't remember when and where. Merlin had laughed in relief after hearing the Dragon's reply, and his response shocked Morgana.
"So you are no longer the last of your kind," the Dragon released a single chuckle as he said,
"It would seem not." Morgana finally realized what Merlin had done, he was showing her a memory from his past. Powerful magic that Morgause had struggled using trying to teach Morgana the Old Religion, but he had done it without a problem.
"When will it hatch?" Merlin asked snapping Morgana out of her trance.
"Young Dragons were called into the world by the Dragon Lords, only they had the power to summon them from the egg" The Dragon explained. "As the last Dragon Lord, this solemn duty falls to you Merlin," Morgana saw Merlin's eyes widen in bewilderment as he looked seriously at the egg.
"How do I summon it?" he asked.
"You must give the Dragon, a name." he explained. Merlin shrugged at the simplicity of the task. After a moments consideration he closed his eyes and, under the intuitive gaze of the Dragon, said a name that was all too familiar to Morgana. In a hybrid human/ Dragon voice Merlin called out the hatchling's name.
"Aithusa,"
At the sound of the name the egg began making sounds, there was a crack in the upper side as a familiar purring sound came from the egg followed by a small white Dragon's head.
"A White Dragon, she is indeed a rare thing," the Dragon said as he observed the new born's hatching. "And fitting, for in the Dragon Tongue you named her after the light of the sun." As they continued to watch Aithusa hatch from her egg the Dragon continued speaking of the meaning of Aithusa's hatching.
"No Dragon birth is without meaning. Sometimes the meaning is hard to see, but this time I believe it is clear. The White Dragon bodes well for Albion; for you and Arthur and the land you'll build together." Merlin's eyes never left Aithusa as she hatched, being close to tears as he watched her. Aithusa had now fully broken through from her egg as she spread out her wings and presented herself to Merlin. Merlin looked upon her with great fondness as he looked down at her as the young Dragon said one word to him that brought the tears flowing from his eyes.
"Father,"
Morgana then found herself looking at Merlin and the more grown Aithusa as they watched her, Merlin's eyes were clouded from tears he refused to shed.
"When I first learned Aithusa couldn't speak," Merlin said fighting back the tears, "I thought that you had put some kind of spell on her, a way to manipulate her." He sniffed to himself as he put a loving hand on Aithusa. "That reason more than anything I wanted to make you pay for what you'd done, but now I know that's not why she follows you. She cares for you genuinely as a friend."
"What are you getting at?" Morgana demanded only just being able to hold back her own emotions from seeing a display of affection in Merlin's memories.
"This is the one and only reason I'm not going to kill you again Morgana," he said in a clear neutral tone, surprising her.
"What do you mean?" Morgana demanded confused. Merlin uttered to Aithusa again in the Dragon Tongue and she bowed her head before nuzzling him affectionately. Merlin then returned his gaze to Morgana.
"The ban on magic in Camelot and the 5 kingdoms has been lifted, so there's no reason for you to want to attack them again. As long as you don't try to attack another kingdom I'll let everyone think your still dead; but if you plot evil, for any reason, Aithusa will come to me and I will kill you myself." Merlin's words stunned Morgana; she stood there frozen for a few moments as she watched him pick up his bag and turned to leave. As he was about to leave the clearing Morgana called out to him angrily.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" she demanded her voice cracking from her mix of emotion. Merlin stopped walking but didn't look back. "You've been given a second chance Morgana, don't waste it by attempting to rekindle forgotten grudges, and stay away from Camelot. I doubt you'd be given a friendly reception by the Queen or the knights." Merlin left then, leaving her and Aithusa alone in the clearing. Aithusa called out to Merlin one last time before he left, and then went to comfort Morgana. She fell to her knees at the realization of what had just happened. She cried to herself, putting her head in her hands to try and muffle the sound. The only thing there to comfort her was the caring presence of Aithusa wrapping around her as she cried.
AN: Thanks for the review from the last story guys! Hopefully I made the edits a few of you pointed out. I am returning to school tomorrow though so I'm not sure If I'll be able to dish these stories out as quickly as I used to, but I'll do my best and hopefully my story is good enough for you all to want to wait for the next chapter. Thanks for reading and please Review!
